[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 30



INDIA:

Katara killers argue against death penalty


Faced with the prospect of being hanged, Nitish Katara's killers Vikas Yadav 
and Vishal began their arguments against the death penalty before the Delhi 
high court on Monday.

A bench of Justices Gita Mittal and J R Midha heard arguments on behalf of 
Yadav by his lawyer Sumeet Verma who opposed demand for death penalty on 
several grounds. Verma maintained that the crime in question can't be 
categorized as a heinous offence meriting a rarest of rare punishment. He 
pointed out that Nitish's death occurred due to single hammer blow and can't 
under no circumstances can it be categorized as brutal or heinous more so since 
there was no other injury on the victim's body.

The defence also argued that the convicts have been behind bars for 12 years 
and their conduct in jail gives no reason to believe they can't be reformed.

Police and Katara's mother, Neelam, have demanded death penalty for the 3 
accused in the case that Yadav and the 2 other accused deserve death penaltyas 
the offence was "pre-meditated" and committed in a "cold-blooded" manner. "The 
convicts (Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev Pehalwan), in furtherance of their common 
intention, murdered the victim Nitish Katara in a cold-blooded, planned and 
pre-meditated manner, without any provocation," the prosecution has argued.

"The burning of the body after killing the deceased and leaving it without any 
clothes demonstrated a depraved state of mind and lack of remorse as the 
accused displayed no respect even for the human body," the police said earlier. 
The Delhi police and the victim Nitish's mother Neelam Katara are seeking 
capital punishment or an enhanced life sentence for Vikas, Vishal Yadav and 
Sukhdev Pehalwan.

While seeking the gallows for the 3 convicts, Police further said that the age 
of the convicts should not be a mitigating factor for not awarding death 
penalty.

Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev Pehalwan are serving life term for abducting and 
killing Nitish Katara, a business executive and son of an IAS officer, on the 
intervening night of February 16-17, 2002. They did not approve of the victim's 
affair with Bharti, sister of Vikas.

(source: The Times of India)

***********************

HC upholds death penalty in triple murder case


Upholding judgement of a local court, the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High 
Court on Monday approved death penalty to all the 3 convicts of the sensational 
triple murder case took place in Srinagar here wherein 3 women members of a 
family were killed in cold blood.

The convicts include a girl.

The district court had awarded gallows to Neha Verma (23), Rahul Choudhary (24) 
and Manoj Atodh (32) after finding them guilty under Section 302, 397 and 449 
of the IPC.

Besides, Manoj was also held guilty under Section 25 of the Arms Act.

The trio had murdered Ashlesha Deshpande (21), her mother Megha (42) and 
grand-mother Rohini Phadke (70) in a gruesome attack in Srinagar on June 19, 
2011. After a few days of incident, all the 3 accused were arrested and a 
pistol and 2 knives, the booty and 2 ATM cards were recovered from their 
possession.

Mastermind of the murder was Neha Verma, who along with her boyfriend, Rahul 
and Manoj hatched the plan of loot and murder. Neha, a salesgirl for beauty 
products, had met Megha Deshpande (42) in Orbit Masll 2 days before the 
killings.

The accused noticed that Megha was wearing expensive jewellery and befriended 
her on the pretext of being a company agent.

She took Megha's phone number and address and later that night hatched a plot 
to rob the Deshpande household with Rahul and Manoj.

On June 19, 2011 Neha along with 2 of her accomplices went to the residence of 
the Deshpande at Srinagar Colony and murdered all the 3 inmates of the house.

Her accomplices shot at and stabbed inmates of the house before decamping with 
cash and valuables worth Rs 1.5 lakh. The police got a lead after they learnt 
that Rahul, who accidentally fired at his foot while committing the crime, got 
himself admitted to a local hospital.

Advocate Raghvendra Singh Bais said the HC after going through all the aspects 
of the case upheld death penalty awarded by lower court to the convicts.

(source: Free Pres Journal)






PAKISTAN:

Crime and (capital) punishment: Moratorium on death penalty hangs in the 
balance


Shoaib Sarwar should have died on September 18. That superintendent at Adiala 
Jail, where Sarwar is on death row, was directed by a sessions court to execute 
him on the date. Sarwar was given the death penalty in July 1998 for murdering 
Awais Nawaz in January 1996.

He has already exhausted all appeals and has a mercy petition pending in the 
office of the President of Pakistan. 2 days shy of the date, the LHC Rawalpindi 
bench comprising Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa and Justice Aalia Neelum issued 
a stay order. Sarwar is one of 8,526 convicted criminals on death row in 
Pakistan and his fate hangs in the balance as the legal community remains 
divided over the issue of capital punishment.

The bench was told that Shoaib was party to a petition for the abolition of the 
death penalty before the Supreme Court and any execution order by the High 
Court cannot be acted upon till the matter remains with the apex court. Thus on 
Wednesday this week, the top court will take up a petition filed by the Watan 
Party seeking an explanation from the government over inordinate delays in the 
execution of prisoners on death row in the country.

The 3-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan 
Nasirul Mulk will resume the hearing of this case after a 5 month period. In 
the last hearing on May 5, the bench had summoned Attorney General for Pakistan 
Salman Aslam Butt to give a reply regarding inmates on death row awaiting 
execution in jails across the country.

These convicts are not all murderers - there are 27 offences in Pakistan 
legally punishable by death. These offences go far beyond the threshold of 
'most serious crimes' stipulated by Article 6 of the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights and include blasphemy, sexual intercourse outside of 
marriage, kidnapping or abduction, gang rape, assault on the modesty of women 
and the stripping of a woman, smuggling of drugs, arms trading and sabotage of 
the railway system.

"These prisoners should be released if the government does not want to proceed 
with their execution," petitioner Barristar Zafarullah Khan told The Express 
Tribune.

The previous PPP government decided to adopt a de facto moratorium on civilian 
hangings since 2008 despite opposition from various state institutions. Only 1 
person has been executed since then: a soldier convicted by court martial and 
hanged in November 2012.

The case for human rights

On December 5 last year, the law ministry informed the Human Rights Commission 
of Pakistan (HRCP) that the government is maintaining a moratorium on death 
penalty. The HRCP has urged the government to take concrete steps toward ending 
the death penalty and meanwhile persist with the suspension of executions.

The organisation has urged the government to sign the Optional Protocol to the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aimed at abolition of the 
death penalty. Around 140 countries have become abolitionist states in the last 
65 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was 
promulgated.

The HRCP said it was dismayed at the possibility of the moratorium on capital 
punishment being lifted. "HRCP wishes to remind the government that the reasons 
that have caused the stay of executions since 2008 have not changed," the group 
said in a statement. "These include the well-documented deficiencies of the 
law, flaws in administration of justice and investigation methods and chronic 
corruption."

The law ministry said it is not in favour of the complete abolition of the 
death penalty in view of the prevalent law and order situation, particularly 
with reference to acts of terrorism. The ministry added that the death sentence 
under Hudood Laws also cannot be abolished in view of Article 2-A read with 
Article 227 of the Constitution.

"The issue of death penalty is related to the Ministry of Interior and 
Narcotics Control and the provincial governments. This ministry is obtaining 
their comments and a final response shall be given after receipt of comments 
from all stakeholders," the law ministry further said.

According to a 2013 report by HRCP on the issue, Pakistani authorities have 
executed only 1 death-row prisoner since 2009. The report further stated that 
courts continue to award capital punishment and 227 people, including 3 women 
and 3 Christians, were sentenced to death in 2013.

Last June the newly elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif scrapped 
the moratorium in a bid to crack down on criminals and Islamist militants. But 
2 weeks later it announced a further stay of executions after an outcry from 
rights groups and then-president Asif Ali Zardari. All execution orders in 
Pakistan must be signed by the president.

During the United Nations General Assembly meetings last week, officials 
pressed global leaders to move towards abolishing the death penalty, saying the 
continued practice of capital punishment is "primitive". "Revenge alone is not 
justice," said High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein at the 
high-level event, Moving Away from the Death Penalty: National Leadership. The 
High Commissioner dismissed capital punishment as "degrading and cruel in more 
than 1 sense" and acknowledged that it was "often discriminatory" of the 
condemned, disproportionately affecting the poor, the mentally ill, the 
powerless and minorities.

Currently, Pakistan, Equatorial Guinea and the states of Washington, Maryland 
and Connecticut in the United States have a moratorium on executions and 160 UN 
members states have either eliminated capital punishment or do not practice it.

Legal opinion

When there is a law regarding capital punishment, then it should be implemented 
forthwith, says Supreme Court Bar Association president Kamran Murtaza. "The 
bar is not in favour of a complete abolition of the death penalty in the 
country as this is contrary to Islamic shariah," he explains. However, he says 
the death sentence is awarded in drug trafficking cases and should not be. 
While he supports capital punishment in blasphemy cases, Murtaza says the 
government should evolve a strategy to stop the misuse of the blasphemy laws.

On the other hand, lawyer Azhar Saddique argues, "The death penalty cannot be 
waived in any case." He explains, "By removing capital punishment from all 
offences, including Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (dealing with murder 
charges) and Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act ("whosoever commits a 
terrorist act, if such act has resulted in the death of any person, that person 
be punished with death"), you cannot curtail terrorism. The increase in such 
activities is due to the non-implementation of capital punishment."

Justice (retired) Tariq Mahmood also strongly supports the abolition of the 
death penalty, saying that only lower income people face the penalty in the 
present system. "Rich people are able to hire influential lawyers to contest 
their cases and have them freed," he believes. "These people can manage an 
investigation in their favour by buying out witnesses, investigation officers 
or the judiciary. There is little chance of the penalty in their case."

Mahmood says lower income people often cannot pay their lawyers' fees and 
therefore the court awards them punishments as they do not receive assistance 
in their cases. "Rich people are able to pay qisas and diyat in Pakistan," he 
adds, saying that sessions judges have the authority to award a life sentence 
in the offence of Section 302 of the PPC.

Ahmer Bilal Soofi, known as an expert on international law, says that Pakistan 
is not signatory to any international treaty or convention regarding the 
abolition of the death penalty. Therefore, he feels there is no legal 
obligation to continue a moratorium on capital punishment in the country. 
However, he adds that there is a political impetus to abolish the penalty as 
the government will face international criticism should it go ahead and carry 
out executions once more.

Terrorism and death penalty

"Principally, no one should be awarded the death penalty, but in Pakistan, it 
is impossible to completely abolish the punishment until and unless terrorism 
is wiped out," says former vice chairman Pakistan Bar Council Akhtar Hussain. 
However, Mahmood rules out the nexus between the elimination of terrorism and 
the abolition of the death penalty. "Terrorists are ready to die for their acts 
and terrorism cannot be eliminated through capital punishment," he explains.

Similarly, former Additional Attorney General Tariq Khokhar says international 
research has established that the death penalty does not sufficiently act as a 
deterrent for crimes. "In Pakistan, 60 to 70 % of litigations or FIRs 
registered are falsified or fabricated and innocent people are punished in 
these matters. Therefore, it would be better to abolish capital punishment," he 
said.

He says that if the government goes ahead with the death penalty, Pakistan's 
trade relations with the European Union (EU) will be affected as capital 
punishment is in violation of the EU's Charter of Human Rights. "Countries like 
Saudi Arabia, Iran or the United States of America can afford to carry out 
death penalties as they do not rely on international trade," he says. The top 4 
countries in the world meting out the death penalty are China, Iran, Iraq, 
Saudi Arabia and the US, according to Amnesty International.

***************************

Legal wrangling: Prosecution submits record of cases against Musharraf


The federal government on Monday placed before the Supreme Court a record of 
cases pending against former president Pervez Musharraf in different courts.

The record was submitted by the attorney general along with the respective 
rulings in a series of high profile cases against the former military ruler.

Chaudhry Faisal Hussain, who is part of Musharraf's legal team, told The 
Express Tribune that he had complete trust in the judiciary and hoped that his 
client would get justice.

"The ongoing protests have not given any advantage to our client. He is still 
facing trial," Hussain said. "The government is linking the ongoing political 
impasse with the high treason case," he added.

The former president's lawyer also dispelled rumours that he had clinched a 
deal with the government and was set to leave the country soon.

Musharraf, who was recently indicted in the high treason case, could face the 
death penalty if found guilty of overturning the country's constitution.

Facing a myriad of legal challenges, the former president's name was placed on 
the ECL on April 5, 2013, following a Sindh High Court order on March 29, 
wherein it was directed that he will not leave the country without permission 
of the trial court.

Cold war between prosecution and AG office

According to sources, the AG's office and the government's prosecution team - 
which is pressing treason charges against the former president - are at odds.

Expressing his apprehensions over the AG's office, a key member of the 
prosecution team said that AG Salman Aslam Butt can hush up Musharraf's case as 
he was associated with Sharifuddin Peerzada, a legal adviser to the former 
president.

"Even one of the top law officers in the attorney general's office had shown 
his willingness to contest Musharraf's treason case before the special court," 
he added.

Commenting on the issue, a senior government aide told The Express Tribune that 
Butt's appointment as AG was made on a temporary basis following Munir A 
Malik's resignation.

Since Akram Sheikh was leading the prosecution team in the high treason case, 
his appointment as the attorney general was deferred.

The Express Tribune has also learnt that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) 
lawyers' wing is also dissatisfied with Butt's decision regarding the 
appointment of law officers in the country.

(source for both: The Express Tribune)






NIGERIA:

Nurse's death sentence reignites abortion debate in Kenya----Nairobi's high 
court convicted Jackson Namunya Tali of helping a Kenyan woman to obtain an 
abortion illegally, which led to her death.


Nurse Jackson Namunya Tali was not the 1st person Christine Atieno approached 
when she sought help to end an unwanted pregnancy in Kenya.

Tali says that Atieno asked for assistance after undergoing a botched abortion, 
in a country where the procedure is illegal.

Last week, the high court in Nairobi sentenced 41-year-old Tali to death for 
murder, after the death of both mother and foetus.

In the ruling, Judge Nicholas Ombija said the nurse, who had been working at 
Kihara Sub District Hospital and operating a private clinic in Kiambu, had been 
found guilty of murdering Atieno.

"He has killed 2 people, a foetus and her mother, and the only sentence 
available in law is the maximum death penalty, which I have handed to him," 
said the judge.

The court heard that Atieno died in Tali's vehicle as he drove her from a 
clinic to another hospital for advanced treatment, the BBC reported.

The ruling has reignited the debate over abortion, which is only legal in Kenya 
if the pregnancy is deemed by a medical professional to be endangering the 
mother's health.

The law had previously stated that abortion could only be performed if a 
woman's life was endangered, and whereas 3 doctors were previously needed to 
approve the procedure, rules have been relaxed so that only 1 doctor's consent 
is needed.

However, in most communities, abortion is regarded as a taboo and individuals 
involved in the act can be branded murderers. South Africa, Tunisia and Cape 
Verde are the only African countries to allow abortion without restriction on 
the reasons for it.

In most communities it is regarded as a taboo and individuals involved in the 
act can be branded murderers

Figures from Kenya's health ministry show that abortion contributes to 2,400 
maternal deaths annually, with 465,000 abortions carried out in conditions 
deemed unsafe in 2013. Access to contraception is still limited. In 2008-2009, 
more than 4 in 10 pregnancies were unintended, according to a study by the 
Guttmacher Institute.

According to Google Zeitgeist 2012 report, advice on how to procure an abortion 
was one of the most searched-for topics among Kenyans.

Religious leaders in the socially conservative country reject calls by human 
rights activists and reproductive health care professionals to allow wider 
access to abortion to be entrenched in the Kenyan constitution. They have been 
known to take to the streets to vent their anger at the suggestions.

According to the Kenyan constitution: "Abortion is not permitted unless, in the 
opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency 
treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by 
any other written law."

It is this clause that has been at the centre of controversy between proponents 
and opponents of abortion, with the former arguing that it could lead to more 
deaths, particularly among teenagers. The law had previously stated that 
abortion would only be allowed if the mother's life was in danger.

Many opponents believe that life begins at conception and by permitting 
hospitals to carry out abortion, the country would be handing health 
professionals the ticket to commit murder.

Thadeous Mworia, a pastor with the Redeemed Gospel Church of Kenya, told 
IQ4News that abortion is a sin. "There should be no debate about it at all 
because it is an abomination," he said.

However, many others feel the law should made more lenient.

"We are witnessing deaths of many young girls because they are seeking the 
services of quacks," said Anne Wamoyo, a student at the University of Nairobi. 
"Society does not want to associate with them."

(source: The Guardian)